[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

A few minutes later, the two travelers had reached Larkin and were heading for the tavern. Once they had arrived, Sophia tied the horse to a post and gestured for Alice to wait there. Can't have the kid know about the Culebras - safer to have her wait there. she thought. She headed for the main entrance of the tavern. The place, which was usually filled with sounds of drunkards yelling and drinking was eerily quiet. Sophia pushed open the saloon's double doors, and gasped at the grisly sight.

Strewn across the room were dozens of dead bodies of her clanmates. Tables were smashed in half, chairs were upturned, and there were bullet holes in the walls - something that happened here while she was gone. She looked up as something dripped on her face. The walls, ceiling and floor were wet with cold water, as if it had rained inside the room.

Sophia ran out of the saloon. "Hey! Miss Sophia, everything alright?" Alice called, confused as to why she was in such a state of hurry. Sophia turned to the closest alleyway and knocked loudly on the wall of the tavern. "Psyduck! Jack, let me the psyduck in!" she hissed, rolling up her sleeve and slamming it against the hole that appeared.

"Fia, w-where were y-you? Ev-everyone's d-ownstairs-" Jack began as the wall slid open. Sophia violently pushed past him and ran downstairs to see what was happening. A few survivors were being tended to, apparently having been pierced all across their bodies by something small and sharp.

She rushed to the first of the wounded - a small, skinny man by the name of Derrick. An absolute idiot, but a good shot nonetheless. "What the psyduck happened to you guys? Charlatans attacked? Royal guard?"

Derrick winced, clutching his side. Despite his injuries, he looked embarassed. "No... t'was a single guy; one lone psyducker.... Bounty hunter... he- urgh!" he was interrupted by a small coughing fit. "Was looking for Pete... Didn't find 'im there, so the asshole did this." Derrick moved his hand to reveal the large number of tiny holes in his abdomen.

Pete? Sophia listened intently to the man's words, a frightened look on her face. What was that he said about needing a lighter earlier... Oh psyduck, he's going to get himself killed! she thought. The assailant was likely to be waiting at the tavern, and when Pete would return, he'd certainly get killed.

Sophia dashed for the exit, completely forgetting the reason she had initially come there for. Pete was too close to her to lose - he'd always had a bounty but the recent job had significantly increased his notoriety. The kid was going to have to wait, all that mattered right now was that she had to warn Pete.

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Colt was on the brink of exhaustion. After the incident with the Culebras in the tavern and letting Big Pete escape, he had been searching every possible nook and cranny for the thug. Such a task should have been simple considering that the individual in question's size and intelligence. But that was not the case. It was as if the lumbering Culebra had vanished into thin air, and none of the local townspeople had seen him since.

"Must have some kind of hideout or somethin' around here." Colt muttered as he strode through the dusty Larkin streets. He was tired and hungry, but he refused to return to his camp on the edge of town until he had made some kind of progress.

Where could the big oaf have gone? He had only been less than a minute ahead of the hunter entering the tavern, yet somehow he had escaped. Frustrated, Colt headed for the scene from earlier. He just hoped that he would find something to help him pick up the trail again.

As he approached the aged saloon, he came upon a strange sight. A horse was tied up outside, and a little girl in a fancy summer dress standing nervously nearby. The horse's rider was nowhere to be seen.

Colt approached the girl, who seemed quite terrified, kept shifting her gaze around, looking from the entrance of the tavern, to the street, to a small alleyway close by.

The tired hunter started to trudge past the girl into the tavern, when he realized that she might have seen something of interest. He turned around, and the child's eyes widened as she realized he was looking at her.

"Excuse me Miss," Colt queried, as politely as he could manage. "You seem to be lost. Is every thing all right?"

Alice took a step back away from the stranger. "I-I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." she mumbled, looking away.

The hunter groaned inwardly. It was always a pain to deal with people like this, even more so with kids. Not to mention the fact that his kind were exactly the reason parents told their children these things.

"Hey, I don't mean any harm, I'm just tryin' to see if you... need any help, is all." Colt forced a grin for good measure. "Now, I reckon this isn't your horse, unless your one heckuva rider for your size. Are your parents around?" As the words came out his mouth, he noticed a small creature perched on the back of the nearby horse. He hadn't seen it before, since it appeared to be the same color as the beast.

A chameleon. It didn't take more than a moment for Colt to realize what that meant.

After a few moments of hesitation, Alice answered the man. "It's not mine, it's for someone else. I'm waiting for them to come back. It's for - em - my sister. She told me to wait here, but I don't think I should talk to anyone I don't know."

"Your sister, eh?" The girl such a bad liar that it was almost painful. "Where is she? In there?" The hunter motioned to the tavern entrance.

Alice shot a furtive glance at the alleyway where Sophia had gone, before looking back at the man.

"She was in there just now... Why do you want to know, anyway? I won't tell you." she looked him in the face, trying to act stubborn.

You have got to be kidding me. Colt was beginning to wonder if this was even worth his time. For all he knew, this girl and her companion could know absolutely nothing, and he was losing valuable time. If he waited for much longer, Pete could be on a train to any of the nearby towns before he left the dust bowl of a town.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. "You know, it's not safe for people to be in there. I heard that the other day, over half a dozen townsfolk got shot dead right in this very bar." Colt suppressed his grin as horror spread upon the girl's face.

Alice leaned sideways to peer into the saloon. It was creepily quiet, especially for a town as big as Larkin. She wasn't particularly fond on Sophia, but she didn't want to see her die. Her lips quivered. "Sh-she went in there first, then I saw her run out into the alley over there." she gestured towards the side of the building. "Please, mister, could you try to stop her getting hurt?"

"Really now, she went over there?" The whole thing was starting to become more clear. If the rider of the horse was a Culebra, it would make sense for them to have some kind of secret access to wherever Pete had disappeared to the other day.

"Let's go take a look then! Wouldn't want anything like that to happen to anybody out here, much less your sister." Colt, motioning for the girl to follow, began to walk toward the alley, letting his hands rest on his pistols, just in case.

Alice looked at the horse and back at the stranger. "I don't know if I should..." she began, but shook her head and followed him.

Both the kid and the hunter walked apprehensively toward where the former had pointed out earlier. As they approached, however, they were greeted by an empty pathway.

"Are you sure that she came this way?" Colt questioned, half wondering if this girl was just making up stories to mess with him. She looked just as confused, however.

Colt had had enough for one day. Just as he turned around to head back to leave, though, a door swung open behind him, knocking him to the ground. Stunned, he lay there as a petite feminine figure rushed out, looking frantically around.

Sophia did not notice that she had hit someone. She cursed at the rusty door for being broken. She was surprised when she saw Alice on the other side of the door, crouching next to a man.

"Hey, you little muk! Didn't I tell you to wait back there? You're gonna get hurt over here -" she hissed, but stopped when she looked at the man lying on the ground. He was rubbing his head and getting up. Sophia instantly noticed the glint of the badge on his jacket.

There's only once reason a bounty hunter would be waiting around these parts. she thought. Alice helped the man up, and looked at Sophia.

"That's my sister." she told him as he dusted his clothes.
Sister? Sophia leered at the girl, who gave her an almost unnoticeable apologetic shrug. Alice moved away from the man and next to Sophia.

Sophia slowly reached for her belt pocket where her gun was. "And who might you be?" she asked. She turned to Alice. "Why is he here?"

His ears still ringing, Colt picked himself up as he finished wiping the dust off of himself. "Name's Colt Marshall," he replied. He saw no point in lying about that, as his reputation as a bounty hunter was nonexistent at this point. The person who had knocked him over was apparently in her early twenties, quite short, and clutching her gun belt. She looked intensely hostile, despite having no knowledge of who he was.

Alice saw Sophia reaching for her gun, and fear appeared in her eyes. "He - he said there was a shooting here, and that it was dangerous, so I told him you were here..." she uttered.

"Alright then, Marshall. I think we need to have a little chat." Sophia said, pulling out her revolver and pointing it at the tall man. "You're not exactly meant to be here."

Colt let out a faint chuckle. "You're not the first Culebra to tell me that." In the blink of an eye, he finished the summoning spell he had been working on, pulling his guns into his waiting hands.

"Sophia, no!" Alice screamed, right before Sophia shoved her away from the bullet that instantly came out of Colt's gun, jumping to the side to avoid it.

How the fuck did he pull out that gun so fast? she thought, shocked. She fired a few shots in his direction, all of them apparently missing despite there being no cover.

The bounty hunter, feeling overly confident from his earlier victory in the tavern, taunted the woman. "A dozen of your friends couldn't beat me in a firefight, so how do you think you will?"

Just as he said those words, a small figure darted out of Alice's pocket, landing precisely on Sophia's forearm. Raising her arm like a gun, she smiled. "Say hello to my little friend."

A giant, purple blast of gas shot out of Nico's mouth. Infused with air energy, the chameleon could release gas at the rate of a steamboat.

Colt stumbled backwards, hacking and coughing from the smoke. Dropping his pistols, he desperately attempted to wipe the substance off his face, to no avail. He couldn't see a thing. The man cursed under his breath for letting himself underestimate the female Culebra.

Taking it as an opportunity, Sophia quickly raised her revolver and pressed the trigger.

Managing to scrape some of the gunk off of him, Colt looked up just in time to see the woman leveling her gun on him. Realizing that he needed to act before his brains decorated the surrounding street, he hurriedly ran through a quick freeze spell, directed in front of him. It was a crap shoot, he just hoped that it would be enough to spare him this time.

After a second had passed, the hunter felt himself, not feeling any bullet holes. Huh, well I'll be damned. Taking a glance at his would-be assailant, he found that the barrel of the pistol had frozen solid, the bullet protruding from the muzzle.

"What the-" Sophia glanced the barrel of her revolver. It was clogged with ice. She desperately slammed it against the wall, attempting to break it. "Stupid- fucking- gun-" she muttered in between hits.

As much as Colt wanted to stay and find out where Pete had ran off to, he knew that he was in no position at all to continue the duel. It was also clear that this was Culebra turf, and reinforcements could be just a shout away.

Rising up off of his knees, the hunter half-ran out backwards out the already-dissipating smoke. His visibility was still impaired, and he couldn't sprint without the likelihood of tripping or running into any obstacles. As he did so, he let off a trio of shots towards the direction of the woman who had started the incident, just for good measure.

Sophia ducked, dodging the first two bullets. "Agh!" she screamed as the third hit her leg, causing her to drop her gun and fall to the ground. She clutched her wounded thigh. Ahh fuck fuck fuck. This is bad. she thought, her vision blurred by the impact.

Alice stared in horror as Sophia lied on the ground cursing and holding her leg. She quickly stood back up and slammed on the closed hidden door. "Someone, help! Someone's hurt here!" she yelled. She ran back to Sophia and tried to rest her head on her shoulder. "Help is coming, just hold still!"

Sophia looked up the girl's concerned face. "What the fuck did I- agh!" she hissed, before being interrupted by a sharp feeling of pain in her leg.

A few moments later a dozen of men emerged from the door, holding guns and looking around. Among them was Jack. His face turned from anger to shock when he saw Sophia on the ground, her leg bleeding profusely. He called for the other outlaws' attention, and ran to where she was. "S-sophia! Are you a-alright?" he asked, taking a look at the wound. He turned to Alice, who had been startled by the Culebras' sudden arrival. "W-who did this t-to her? I ought t-to p-put a bullet through their d-damn skull!"

"It- it was a man, he went that way! He came in here looking for Sophia and-" Alice began, flustered.

"Fucking - agh - bounty hunter. He was fucking around and I thought I could - agh- take care of it... I'm fine though." Sophia interrupted. Nico was on the ground near her, looking at her with a clearly concerned expression.

"First the incident at the tavern and now this?" said another outlaw, looking around for anyone.

"L-let's try to g-get you up, and get you d-downstairs with the others." Jack said. Along with the help of a few others, they managed to get Sophia downstairs, despite her protests of her needing no help.

"Hey! We got another one who's hurt!" one outlaw called. The elderly woman who was tending to the wounded turned her head. She slowly approached Sophia as the men set her on the table. She snickered quietly. Although she seemed helpless and weak, Valentina Culebra was not to be underestimated. Mother of Antonio Culebra, she was very skilled healer and spellcaster, and a master in the art of poisons and lethal substances.

She shook her head, tutting. "Tut tut. Young ones are so brash. Always getting hurt. Young ones cannot learn to wait."

Sophia winced as the elderly woman lifted her leg. "First time taking a direct shot? So reckless, so reckless." she chuckled. She placed her finger on the wound, and her hand began glowing white. Sophia screamed in pain as she felt something being pulled out of the hole in her leg. Once the bullet was out, however, she felt and extreme feeling of relief.

Valentina studied the bullet. "Ice-coated bullet. Severe vasodilation. Wound should be gone in a few hours. Try to rest." she told her, lowering Sophia's leg.

"I'll be fine, I just need to-"

"Sleep." Valentina commanded, and as if obeying her order, Sophia's body fell limp back onto the table, and she was fast asleep.

Alice quitely sat at a table near the one Sophia was laid on, anxiously looking at the old woman work. Her heart thumped loudly - she had no idea where she was, who those men were, why Sophia had attacked the stranger - and how on earth could a Chameleon shoot out so much gas? Jack noticed her anxiety and smiled, ruffling her head.

"D-don't worry, kid. She'll p-pull through fine. You n-need rest t-too anyway. Tomorrow you can t-talk about all this with h-her, alright?" he told her reassuringly.

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By the time Colt had dragged himself back to his camp, the sun was nearly setting. He was sore, and dead tired, but foremost on his mind was his bruised ego. How could I have let her get the drop on me like that? he thought . Damn. This was supposed to be a simple job. The man chuckled in spite of himself. "Guess there's more to this bounty hunting stuff than I expected." With that, he felt his eyelids growing heavy, so he pulled his hat over them, and drifted off.

As the sun rose over the horizon the next morning, all was quiet in Larkin. On the outskirts of town, a lone figure was eating an early morning breakfast, cooked over a small campfire.

He had decided that even though he had not found his missing Culebra, he would be leaving town. As much as it he wanted to chase Pete, it wasn't worth getting killed by an angry mob of fellow gang members over.

Finishing the last of his grits, he poured a pail of water on the fire, extinguishing it. The tent and rest of his gear had already been folded up and packed away in his saddlebags. He decided to take the road through Larkin, as to avoid any possble Culebra ambushes. He knew now that one could never be too careful when dealing with outlaws such as the ones he had tangled with.

Mounting his horse, Blaze, the hunter set off. It wouldn't be long before it was fully light outside, and he wanted to be far, far away by then.

As he entered Larkin, Colt looked around disappointedly. He had expected his first bounty to be an easy one, but he had been sorely mistaken. Blaze seemed to pick up on his melancholy attitude, turning to look at him, letting out a questioning whinny.

"Don't worry, it's not the end of the world." he reassured his steed. "We'll get the next bounty, and I'll make sure to put a bullet through their head before they can give us any trouble." Even as he said this though, he wasn't looking forward to returning empty handed to Janet. He hadn't liked the old hag from the moment he met her, and her having this over him would just make things much worse.

As they rode on though, Colt noticed out of the corner of his eye a shadowy figure moving through the alleyways. It was had a huge, hulking figure, but moved slowly, almost clumsily.

No, it can't be. Colt was stunned. I can't believe it. he's really still here, and just when I decide I'm leaving, he comes right to me.

Snapping himself out the disbelief, he mentally steeled himself. "He is NOT getting away again." Colt muttered. Casually slowing Blaze to a slower walk, he gripped the reins with one hand, his right pistol with the other. The dark figure continued to follow him.

Suddenly and without warning, the horse stopped, and Colt, whipping his torso around to face the shadows behind him, fired off a potshot in at his pursuer.

"Do you honestly think you could sneak up on me like that? I've been chasing you all over this damn city, and you think you can just come up and take me on? "

He coldn't help but taunt the man further, despite thinking better of it

"News flash, buddy. I've shot more of your Culebras than the number of biscuits you must have to eat to maintain that figure."

A roar of rage erupted from the Big Pete, who lost no time in charging out from where he had been not-so-stealthily lurking. He raised a a huge fist in the air, and swung for the man on the horse.

Colt hopped off of Blaze as quickly as he could, not wanting it to be harmed by the raging giant. Pete's fist narrowly missed the hunter as he dodged as second uppercut. Unholstering his pistols, Colt fired several shots at his opponent, who continued to attempt to pummel him, despite the obvious pain.

"This has taken too much of my time. And you know what they say, time is money." The bounty hunter grinned at Pete. "Fitting that you're going down the same way your friends did back at the tavern." With that, Colt prepared a hail shot spell.

Out of nowhere, a gunshot cracked through the eerie early morning air. Colt winced as he felt something sink itself deep into his arm. How did he...?

The young hunter cursed under breath. Of course the Culebra had a gun, and the monolgue he had just given the thug provided plenty of time for even an imbecile like him to realize the opportunity. Now Colt was injured, and Pete was rapidly approaching.

"You... You think you're so smart." the behemoth sneered at him. "I may not be smart, but I know how to handle pests like you." Pete lifted Colt off of the ground by the front of his shirt, preparing to knock the living daylights out of him.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to the boys and 'fia." Pete growled.

Colt was completely silent. "Nothing else to say, then? Good." The thug balled up his fist.

The blow never came. Only a slight moan from Pete, who realized far too late that blood was running down his shirt, a small survival knife protruding from it. 'Big' Pete sank to his knees, and his hand loosened it's grip on Colt, dropping him to the ground.

Picking himself up, the hunter was still silent. For now, he wasn't going to say anything until he had finished the job.

"You won't last long out here, hunter." Pete wheezed, working hard to fill his lungs with air. "We'll hunt you down, and you'll pay for what you done."

A gunshot followed, and all was silent.

Sophia awoke to the sound of men arguing and angry shouts. She had been placed in a bunker bed in one of the rooms, which had not helped her aching back from earlier. Her thigh still felt limp from the impact of the bullet - at least her head wasn't throbbing as much as yesterday.

Sophia slowly managed to get up. She shook her leg to test if it was suitable to walk with. She felt no pain so, so she deemed it safe enough. Half-limping to the main room, she opened the door of the sleeping quarters. She found half a dozen men sitting around a table, apparently arguing over something and almost coming to blows. One of the outlaws noticed her and nudged another one, whispering something to him, all the while cautiously eyeing Sophia.

Sophia walked towards the group of men, pushing aside the ones in her way and getting to the table where the two main speakers were. She slammed her fist on the table, which got their attention.

"What the fuck is going on here?" she demanded, looking at both their faces.

The two men suddenly stopped their dispute and looked at each other. The one on the right, a large, muscular man with a beard that covered more than half of his face, then looked at her. "It's..." he began hesitantly. "It's Pete. He's dead."

"What the fuck are you-" she began, confused, but suddenly she remembered the previous day's events. Slowly, her face turned from anger to blank disbelief.

Next thing she knew, Sophia had blasted away every person around her with an air shield and had quickly retreated to her room, not wanting any of the men to see her reaction. She slammed the door behind her so violently the entire room shook, and stayed in silence for a few seconds.

"Shit, man... You had to put it that way?" one of the outlaws said, rubbing his head as everyone who had been pushed away got blasted off.

Bear, the man with the beard, shook his head. "Kid's gonna get through it eventually. Doesn't change anything though. We need to do something about this - can't let Pete die like that!"

While the events unfolded before her, Alice had been sitting in the other end of the room. The barkeep had nothing else to give her but a bottle of grape juice (unfermented wine), and she was quietly sipping on a cup of it.

It appeared to her that there were two main parties in this argument - the ones that wanted immediate revenge, and the ones who wanted to bide their time. The bearded man who had spoken to sophia was apparently part of the first group. The other man, a slim, tall outlaw, was in favor of the second.

"We can't afford to act foolishly!" he said. "If we band up and go for him, there's a chance it might trigger another federal search! You want to have the sheriff's men on our asses?"

"No, but if we don't do it now, the guy's probably going to be out of the area soon! No guy half as smart as Huck back there would fuck with us and stick around here. He's probably going to that old hag Janet. We can catch him on the way there."

"And then what? We end up like the guys who attacked the carriage a couple days ago? Have you ever considered the possibility that this could be a trap? My god, you're as fucking dumb as you look, Bear."

Bear stood up angrily, knocking his chair over in the process. "Oh, you'll see how fucking smart you'll look when I-"

Alice noticed a man emerge from a roof near where she was sitting. He was tall, with a black formal jacket and a small, golden pair of glasses. He seemed to emit a blazing, imposing aura. She gasped, spat out a mouthful of her drink and almost fell off her chair when she saw the creature that was following him - it looked like a giant cross between a snake and a lizard, with fanged teeth, spiky skin, and an extremely long tail.

The man approached the men, who had not noticed him yet. He snapped his fingers, and everyone quieted down. "Enough of this useless talk. Pete was a loyal and good member to the group, however we shall not squander our efforts for his sake." he commanded. A few men began muttering in protest. Antonio Culebra raised his hand to restore silence. "I understand you all want to make the attacker pay, but we cannot have more of us killed, especially since the attack on the tavern yesterday." he explained.

"Where is Sophia?" he asked.

"She - ah - came in a moment ago, but freaked out a bit when we gave her the news." Bar rubbed the back of his neck apologetically.

Antonio sighed. "Watch over her, make sure she does nothing foolish." he said, adressing the group. He turned his head and looked at where Alice was sitting. The young girl cowered in her seat, staring at her cup and occasionally lifting her eyes to take a quick glance. He slightly raised his eyebrows inquisitively.

Alice watched as he walked up the stairs in silence and exited the room.

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It was a long ride back to Spider's Hollow, but it seemed like an eternity to Colt. Blaze wasn't faring much better, having to support the weight of both his rider and the oversized Culebra. It would be quite accurate too say that both the horse and the hunter were anxious to turn over the bounty.

After a few more hours of riding along the dusty, barren roads of the chasm, they finally reached the entrance to their destination. The small town didn't have much to offer, but Colt was only concerned with two things: getting his money, and finding a place to sit down and have a drink.

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Alice knocked on the door of the room Sophia had gone in. "Sophia? Are you in there?" she asked.

"No chance she's going to let you in, kid. If you like your head, you better stay over here." an outlaw called to her, glancing in her direction.

She knocked again. No response. Alice knocked once more, this time more loudly. "I need to tell you something!"

Still no response. Breathing out strongly through her nose, Alice mustered herself and opened the door. She found Sophia sitting in the corner of the room, still dressed in her nightgown, her head in between her knees. She made absolutely no sound or movement whatsoever. For a second Alice thought she was asleep, until she heard her voice whisper. "Close the fucking door." she said, without moving an inch.

Alice obeyed, and carefully closed the door behind her. She had only known Sophia for a couple of days, but she could tell whoever the person named Pete was, they meant a lot to her. She thought of her own sister - why was she not as sad as she should have? She felt a pang of guilt at that thought - she was being inconsiderate to both her sister and Sophia.

Alice slowly approached Sophia and sat next to her, back against the wall and legs crossed. She looked around the room. "So, I-"

"Fuck off." Sophia muttered, still not moving.

Alice smiled. At least she had that part of her intact. "This Pete person, the men over there were talking about him. They're arguing over him."

She paused to see what Sophia's reaction would be. Seeing that she didn't respond, she continued. "They say a man killed him, and some want to have revenge right now, but some others are saying that they shouldn't."

Alice had no knowledge of who Pete was or who the men arguing were - she hoped that what she was saying would at least comfort the grieving Sophia.

"Then a man came in, I think he's their leader. I think he was agreeing with the second group, I'm not sure."

At this last sentence Alice noticed Sophia slightly lift her head, and look a her. Her eyes were red from crying - Alice couldn't bring herself to visualizing that - and her face was much paler than usual. "I fucking knew it... As smart as he is, boss' got no guts." she muttered.

"They say it was the same man who caused the 'tavern incident'. Their words, not mine. Who do you reckon would kill so many like that, anyway? Probably some no-good bleeding outlaw, deserves to be hang-"

"I'm going after him." Sophia said, standing up.

"You're- what?" Alice asked, surprised. "He's a killer! Do you want to get hurt again like
yesterday? Plus, nobody knows where he's gone! How do you expect find him?"

"Oh, I know where he is."

As he drew closer to the agency, the hunter hesitated. Just the thought of having to endure another conversation with the old fart made him groan. However, the thought of not getting paid for the trouble he had went to for his current bounty finally overcame any doubts he had. Colt tied up his horse, slung Big Pete halfway over his shoulder, and pushed open the doors.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Sharpshot!" Janet made something that could have been a smile as he trudged in. "Didn't expect you back so soon! It only took you what, three days? How many bullets you have to use on 'im?"

Colt grimaced. Maybe if he hadn't told the hag anything beforehand, this would have been easier. It definitely would have been better if he hadn't boasted on planning to use one bullet.

"Here he is. When do I get my money?" The faster he could get out of here and go buy a drink, the better.

"Hold your horses, big shot," the old woman cackled. "Gotta make sure you're bringing in the right man."

She was succeeding on getting on his nerves. "Whaddya talking about, you old hag?" Colt annoyedly asked. "Anyone with eyes could see this is Big Pete, who else is this size? Stop fooling around and just pay me already."

Janet shot the hunter a sharp look. "You watch that tongue of yours, or I may just cut it out. I've got plenty of hunters lookin' for work here, and I certainly don't need some smartass giving me crap."

Colt stared back at her, unwilling to budge. What does she expect, an apology?

After a long moment, the old woman broke the staring match and reached for a thin stack of bills on the desk where she was sitting. Taking a few off the top, she held them out towards the waiting hunter.

He stepped forward, and took the money from Janet's outstretched hand. Glancing down at the bills, something didn't feel right.

That was enough to send him over the edge. Colt had had enough of the old bat's screwing with him.

"What in the freaking world are you trying to pull here?!!" Colt screamed at her. "This is only fifty dollars! I just killed a five-hundred dollar bounty, dragged him all the way here, and you try and give me FIFTY DOLLARS!"

Janet laughed a croaky laugh, delighted to see the young man lose his cool. "Here's the rest. Don't blow it all on booze, cause if you want another bounty yer gonna have to grab one soon. Seems like everyone and their brother decided to catch them some outlaws these days."

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Drop off the kid, kill the bastard, try not to get killed, get out. Simple. Sophia thought as she and Alice finally reached Spider's Hollow. The place was sure to be teeming with bounty hunters, but at this time in the morning, not many would be awake aside from the common drunkards.

Sophia hopped off her horse and tied it to the signpost saying 'Spider's Hollow'. She began heading for the biggest building in town - the tavern. Alice quitely followed behind.

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Embarrassed at his outbreak, Colt grabbed the rest of his cash and promptly left the room. Damn, how does she do that to me? He then swore to himself that someday he would go freelance, after he gained some reputation with the authorities.

The hunter then headed over to The Web, Spider Hollow's other main attraction. The Web was a bar, a place for hunters and townsfolk to relax, grab a drink, and tell the tales of their hunts. This sounded like the perfect thing to Colt.

Sitting down at the bar, he called out to the barkeep for a mug of beer. Colt couldn't help but remember that the last time he was in a tavern, the barkeep tried to serve him a shotgun blast rather than a drink. Good times.

As he sat there, he couldn't help but wonder what had become of the Culebra girl and her "sister". It had certainly been a strange encounter, all right, and it made him wonder what the deal was.

All of a sudden, Colt perceived a metallic glint moving through the air, out of the corner of his eye. He had just enough time to move his head to the right before a knife embedded iteself in his former position.

Scanning the room, he quickly found it's owner. He wasn't surprised.

"I didn't think you were stupid enough to follow me this far," he retorted. "You Culebras may be dumb, but you're persistent, I'll give you that."

"Stay outside. This is going to get fucking messy." Sophia mouthed to Alice. The girl nodded gingerly and got out the room. Sophia pulled out her gun.

"So what is it this time? Or do you need a reason to be angry, shorty?"

Despite having a gun with her, Sophia ran at Colt and lunged at him. "I'LL FUCKING RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!" she screamed manically. She reached for his neck, attempting to lock him into a choke hold.

As the girl attempted to strangle him, Colt went into combat mode. He concentrated, freezing the girl's arm in place, and pushed her away towards the bar. She smashed into a section with a loud crash.

Sophia was unfazed by the impact. She quickly picked herself up and took cover behind the counter. "YOU FUCKING KILLED PETE!" she screamed, firing three shots at the bounty hunter

The bullets missed their intended targets, as if steered away by some magnetic force. One hit the back wall, another rattled around in a nearby spitoon, and the third went right through the hat of the drunk sitting in the corner.

"I did the laundry yesterday, hun..." the drunkard muttered, half asleep. He opened his eyes, noticing his hat was missing. "I said I alred-" his eyes grew wide when he noticed the two individuals. "I'M GOIN', I'M GOIN'!" he called, hurriedly getting off his chair. Tripping on one of its legs, he fell on the ground and lay there unconcious.

Taking opportunity of the bounty hunter's distraction, Sophia jumped to the side and fired a few more shots aimed at Colt's head. "I'll bash that fucking nose of yours so far through your face you'll-" she hissed.

"Sophia, watch out!" she heard Alice cry from outside. The child was anxiously watching through the window.

Now it was the hunter's turn to take advantage of his opponent's distraction. Sophia's bullets continued to fly off course, and now Colt was able to take aim at his attacker, both guns drawn and ready.Pulling the triggers, he fired rapidly them at the outlaw.

Sophia cast the air shield just in time for the bullets to be stopped, followed up with an air blast. She ran to where her dagger had embedded itself into the wall, and pulled it out.

"You're fucking dead!" she screamed, throwing the dagger in his direction again. Using the chair and table in front of her as a staircase, she leaped off the table and attempted to take him down. Unfortunately for her, she was much too small to take down the tall bounty hunter. Colt caught her right as she slammed herself into him.

"You fucking dare to touch me?! Do you- even- realize- what you- fucking- did to me?!" she began yelling and kicking like a child, tears welling up in her eyes.

Realizing his master was in trouble, Nico came to her rescue. He bit down hard on the hunter's hand, causing Sophia to fall to the floor. Colt, still rubbing his hand, was beginning to grow impatient. Charging his guns with what moisture he could draw out of the air around him, he prepared for a hail shot.


Picking herself just in time to see the hail shot fire into the air, Sophia rolled to side to avoid the downpour of icy shards that fell where hs epreviosuly was. Luckily the cloud was not big enough to reach anywhere else, and quickly disspated. She stood back up and pointed a gun at his head. "You're running out of steam, eh? Can't cast any more spells, so my bullet's going to get you right in the fuckin' brain."

"Sophia, eh? Pretty name for an outlaw like you," Colt replied, his guns already pointed at his opponent's skull.

"An... Outlaw?" Sophia could hear Alice whisper to herself from the window.

The standoff continued. "Why don't you just lay the gun down like a good girl, and I won't kill you this time. You're a Culebra, right? Got a bounty for me, sweetheart?"

She ignored the comment. "If there's one thing I'm putting down, it's you."

Colt smiled at her. "I'm sure you'd love to. In fact, it seems that every Culebra thug in town has it out for me. But you're not going to win this fight."

"Thugs....?" Alice continued to echo the bounty hunter's words.

Sophia gritted her teeth. The girl had found out the truth. She'd probably start to scream her head off and call the authorities.

Alice clutched the windowsill. She had traveled with an outlaw. She had talked to an outlaw. She had helped an outlaw. she had actually cared for an outlaw.

Her grip tightened, and the wood began to crack. She had slept with a group of outlaws. She had talked to them. She had felt... safe with them.

Visible cracks began to spread across the entire windowsill, and Alice began trembling. Had Sophia killed the man at the opera house? She hadn't seen him come out. Had Alice helped her? Was Alice an outlaw as well? Was she like the ones that had killed her father? Had she helped her in killing her sister too?

Yes. a voice echoed through her mind.

Sophia turned her head, just in time to see a grey figure tear off a section of the wall where the window was. The creature let out a defeaning roar, knocking over all the chairs and tables around it.

"What the...?" Both Colt and Sophia's eyes were fixed on the creature, which was moving towards both of them.

"...Alice?" Sophia murmured, squinting at the creature's face. It certainly did not like the eleven year old girl that was standing where it was a few seconds ago. It seemed to made purely of glowing light matter. It still had the height and silhouette of the young girl. However with its oversized arms and hands, it looked more like the steam monster Sophia had fought the previous day than a person.

The following events happened so quickly, Sophia could not discern what had happened exactly. In the blink of an eye, the creature grabbed Sophia by the leg and threw her across the room. Letting out another roar, It lunged at Colt, pinning him to the ground.

"Hey you! Uh.. Sophia!" Colt yelled frantically, trying to hold the monster off of him. "She's YOUR sister, do something!"

There was no response, however, and Colt came to realize that he would get no help. He couldn't reach his pistols, which had slid across the floor when he had been knocked down.

I can't believe this. Colt thought to himself. All I wanted was a drink. Yet here he was, hunted by some deranged Culebra assassin, and her monstrous little sister.

Reaching down as deep as he could, he used whatever magic reserves he had left in him to repulse the girl - if she could be called that - off of him. She flew through the air, and went through the front window of the tavern. He quickly scrambled to his feet, picking up his guns.

Sophia was out cold in a corner. The hunter glanced in her direction making sure she wasn't up to anything. Outside, Alice was still slumped over. A small piece of glass was stuck in her cheek, a small trickle of blood running down.

Jeb was sitting up in the balcony of the bar talking to one of the doc's girls and drinking heavily when he heard the sound of glass breaking and a lot of yelling. He got up and shuffled over to the railing to see what was going on. He leaned over the railing when he saw Sophia in the corner. "You bitch, I'll get you for stealing my horse!" He shouted at Sophia. In his drunken mindset what he was about to do seemed like a great idea. He started climbing up on the railing and once he was stradling the rail, he leaned over and fell down from the second level of the bar. He would have landed straight on his face had he not been saved by a small burst of air beneath him.

He stood up and stumbled towards the man in front of him, grabbing a glass of beer from the nearest table along the way. He took a big drink as his eyes lazily focused on the one who seemed to be making the ruckus. "Shit, uh, whattya think yer doin' with my girls? You just, you you you just uh, back off man before this gets messy." Jeb pulled Mr. Truth from it's holster and fired off four rounds into the wall next to where Colt was standing.

Bewildered, Colt stared at the drunk man, who was pointing his guns at him from across the room. Who the hell is it now?!

"Look buddy, I don't have a problem with you or your girls. That one," he motioned to Sophia's unconcious form, "came here tryin to put a bullet in me.

Jeb cut him off, "I don't wanna hear none of ya sassss, you tryin' to mess with my girls and that's jus', jus' no." He fired off another round to the ground in front of Colt. "You best just be gettin on out of here and uh, uh, what was I gonna say. Uh, just get on outta here and there won't be no trouble ya hear?" He took a big swig from the mug he had taken from the table.

Colt gritted his teeth. Normally he just would have left and spared himself the trouble, but today had been a rough day. He wasn't about to let some gun-waving drunk run him out of town.

"Listen here, mister. I've had just about enough of people telling me where I don't belong. Now, you're gonna point those guns somewhere other than at me,or so help me God I will put a hole in the back or your skull."

"Now, now now you listen her son. You can try all you like, but that's not gonna happen." He took another big gulp from the mug in his hand. "Either you're uh, going to pick your fancy britches up and waltz right on outta here, or poor Mr. bartender is gonna be cleanin' you up off the ceilin' and the walls for the, for the next uh week. *hic*" At this point he was swaying rather violently and his words were really starting to slur together, now only barely making sense.

Meanwhile, the two men had not noticed that the figure outside had began to get back up. The monster Alice had turned into snarled, and leaped back into the room. It studied the two men momentarily before letting out another enraged roar and leaping at Jeb, whose back had been turned to it.

Jeb felt something akin to a wild boar ram him in the back before he fell to the ground. He managed to not spill his beer and roll over to see a monster that slightly resembled a girl. His vision was even foggier than before and now his chest was soaked with spilt beer. "Now the hell's this?" He said as he broke the beer glass against the side of the monster's head trying to get it off of him.

The monstrosity that was Alice rolled off of him at the impact of the glass and backed into the corner where Sophia was laying. She looked at jeb, and as she was snarling and getting ready to strike once more at him she had a moment of clarity. She looked him straight into the eyes, and as she did she paused.

This man... I thought he was dead... I- He- she thougt. The creature let out a roar again, holding its head and writhing on the ground, as if fighting against an invisible force. Slowly, Alice began turning back to her normal - and sane - form. She suddenly stopped, and opened her eyes.

"What in the..." she murmured, slowly trying to get up. Her muscles ached horribly, and her head throbbed like crazy. She feebly raised her hand and touched her face. She seemed to have something in her cheek.

Jeb tensed his muscles, ready to rush the beast and wrestle it into submission when he noticed that it had curled up into the fetal position and was screaming. He cocked his head and stared, slackjawed as the creatures started taking on a more human figure. When all was said and done he realized that it was Scarlet's sister.

"Oh shit, I was about to kill you." He said as he walked towards her. "Don't scare me like that, you're crispy's sister right? Yeah she told me to bring this-" Jeb had started to reach into his pocket when he saw a bullet fly past his face. Alice crawled backwards, shocked.

Colt wasn't sure if the other man was going to act on his drunken threats, but he prepared for the worst. All of a sudden, something small had leapt into the room, slamming right into his would-be opponent. The younger hunter didn't know what was going on, but continued to watch on as the two faced each other, the little monster poised to strike.

After what unfolded next though, Colt was even more confused. That creature was really the girl's sister? What in the...

As he continued to observe the encounter, he noticed the man walking towards the girl who had attacked him, mumbling something about killing her.

Colt didn't need to do anything, in fact, the smart thing to do would be to leave while the angry drunk was distracted. However, he felt sorry for the girl, who was clearly mixed up in something that was way over her head. For him, this is what he did- go around shooting people for a living. It was an occupational hazard. But someone like this girl desrved to live longer, deserved a chance to die somewhere other than in a sleazy cantina.

In the second that he had processed all of this, he reacted. Pulling out his guns, he shot a warning shot past the drunk man's face. As the man spun around, enraged, he fired off another round into his wrist in an attempt to disarm the man.

Jeb looked down at the floor after following the bullet into the wall and staring at it for a few seconds. He rolled his head around and then twisted his body to look back at the person who had fired at him. As he turned his body he was met with another bullet which penetrated and left the wrist of the hand which was holding the gun. At the sight of his own blood Jeb's faced turned bright red and the foggyness in his vision cleared. He was pissed.


"You have the gall. No, no no no." He was staring at the ground and wagged his finger in the air. "No, no more talking. You're finished, kid. I tried to give you a chance, but now it's too late." The walls and floor of the building began cracking and shaking, his face became strained and the veins in his neck and face started pulsating rapidly. Bullets and other small pieces of metal such as nails and screws started coming out of the wood which held the building together.

After a few moments a wall of spent bullets and shrapnel was formed in front of Jeb. He looked up and faced the man in front of him as blood started dripping from his nose and running from his eyes. "I tried to give you a chance." He was visibly shaking and he chuckled slightly. "I gave you a chance and you just screwed it, now I'm going to screw you." He held up his finger. "Bye." The wall started flying at the man; piece by little piece, tearing through his clothes and the furniture of the room. Though Jeb's mind was clear, his body was still intoxicated so his aim swayed against his will.

Staring down a massive wall of floating bullets, Colt expressed the only thought on his mind: "What. The. Fuck."

The intoxicated figure, now bleeding from what seemed to be the effort of conjuring such a feat, continued his rant. After he had finished though, the bullets began to fly at the young hunter, who had no idea how to react.

Luckily for him, instinct took over. Making sure what was left of his repulsion spell was active, he leapt as far as he could to te side, taking a few more shots at his opponent while he did so. Diving behind a nearby upturned table, he reloaded his pistols, readying himself to try to escape alive.

Jeb watched as the little man ducked and weaved past his fire. "Run run run, that's all you can do. Fight me like a man you little shit. Shoot me in my wrist when I'm trying to console a child, I'll rip your fuckin' head off." The man fired off a few more rounds at Jeb, which he took and redirected back at their owner. "You better try better than that, kid, a couple o' little scraps like them ain't gonna save ye'."

This guy was starting to get on Colt's nerves. Instead of just finishing him, he continued to gloat, even mentioning something about trying to "console the child"

"Well, if that's how you console children, I 'd hate to see how you..."

One of the bullets he sent back at Colt ripped through the table he was hiding behind and grazed his face, taking a chunk of his ear with it. "Hit me with all ya' got kid. If you're gonna go down you better be flashy about it else I'll just bring you back to life when I'm done and do this all over again. Again and again until you beg for mercy, and when you beg I will give you none. I will bash your head through the floor until the sense gets into you to remember not to fuck with me."

Colt was interrupted as he felt a searing sensation rip across the side of his face. Warm blood began to collect along the thin line the drunk had cut with his bullet.

As the man continued his speech of degrading insults, the combination of pain and anger overcame the hunter. He leapt up, eyes wild, and unleashed a powerful shock of frigid energy across the room at his assailant.

Jeb saw the small man jump up and started to fire off something. He couldn't tell what it was, but he wasn't in the mood to take anymore shit. These past couple of days had been pretty crappy, so instead of taking whatever the kid was trying to dish out he filled his body with the swiftness of the wind and directed what remained of the wall at the kid before taking off towards the kid.

All the while, Alice had been in the corner of the room with Sophia, cowering and trying to avoid whatever the man she had seen at the opera house was throwing at the one Sophia had tried to kill.

Gazing across the room, Colt let out a breath of relief. The spot his oppnent had stood in seconds ago was covered in a layer of ice. Out of nowhere, he felt something strike him in the face,and he fell to the ground.

Jeb punched the kid in the face, catching him unaware and knocking him off his feet. He spat next to where the boy was laying before grabbing him by his neck with the hand that didn't have the bullet wound in it. He went to slam the kid into the ground in what would have been the Coup de grâce when something cold came across his face which chilled the blood and plastered his eyes shut.

As the older man lifter him into the air, preparing to slam him to the ground, Colt had a final thought, upon which he acted, just before what would have been a knockout blow. Summoning what little bits of magic he left, he froze the man's face.

He felt the kid get free from his grip and heard his footsteps running across the wood floor to the exit. With what strength he still had he managed to move his face just enough to get a few final lines out before the kid was out of there. "You sonuvabitch, you better hope I never see you again, because if I do I'll make sure you don't have legs to get away on or arms to pull yourself across the floor with."

Taking this opportunity to remove himself from his assailant's grasp, the hunter moved toward the door. Before he left, he took one last look around the inside of the tavern.

The drunk, still enraged, was spewing more death threats at him. Despite the knowledge that doing so would not help him in any way, Colt could not help but respond.

"Yeah, whatever. Shut up, Frost Face."

As he turned around to leave, he saw Alice cowering in the corner, terrified. He nodded at her, mumbling as he left-

"Good luck, kid."